Author Archives: Emily

BLT FTW

by

Life highlights from the past six days –

  • I survived my 2nd week without my boys.  Adam has been super sweet about sending me a million photos of the most handsome dog in the world!
  • I’ve had a ton of TPNs at work lately and I realized the other day just how comfortable I feel managing them now – I will never stop being grateful for this job opportunity, I have grown so much as a clinician the past year.
  • I saw, and loved, The Farewell.  Such a sweet, funny movie; I can’t recommend it enough.
  • I went to a free yoga class with one of my coworkers and loooooved it!  I had forgotten about just how much I enjoy yoga.  I haven’t been in several years and it seems my balance has gotten much worse but my flexibility has gotten much better – I got myself into camel pose easily and comfortably.

Food highlights –

All of the coffee.

IMG_6086

Hey Day Cold Brew.

IMG_6126

Black and white milkshake cold brew – Grady’s with vanilla bean powder and chocolate milk.

IMG_6143

Still obsessed with this chocolate chip cookie dough Perfect Bar that seems to only be sold at Trader Joe’s and has no internet presence.

IMG_6137

This mango and nut mix is perfectly spicy-sweet.

IMG_6154

This yogurt bowl was amazing.  Strawberry quark with pluots, maple cashew butter, and homemade chocolate chip cookie.

IMG_6116

I had a great assortment of gummy candies for the movie, lots of cola options.

IMG_6099

These s’mores mochi have graham cracker ice cream and and a marshmallow center and all three of us thought they were fantastic.

IMG_6157

Raspberry Short Kate!  Hardywood‘s newest IPA brewed with milk sugar and raspberry.

IMG_20190817_165639_709

Whole Foods hot bar – kale salad, cabbage crunch salad, carrot and harissa salad, breakfast potatoes, chicken sausage – with a side of chicken and waffle chips.

IMG_6096

A swoon-worthy sandwich – local heirloom tomato, turkey bacon, and kewpie mayo on a bun.

IMG_6133

BLT salad.  Sweet baby lettuce with champagne vinaigrette, heirloom baby tomatoes, bacon, Dubliner cheese, and hickory smoked peanuts.  Plus spicy roasted okra that my cousin made.

IMG_6148

Leftover salad with delicious crab cakes that my cousin made.

IMG_6165

Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes with mayo, sriracha, and a side of roasted green beans.

IMG_6169

All By Myself

by

<– that title is facetious, I’m actually living with my cousin and her fiance and they are taking very good care of me!  But this was my first week surviving solo without Adam and Webster.  On a related note, look at the stickers I just bought!!!

IMG-20190816-WA0000

We had a fantastic, fantasmic, over-the-top wonderful vacation, by the way!  We hung out with some of our favorite people, ate some of our favorite things, and got to walk up and down the beach fifteen times, all the while exclaiming how beautiful the water was.

I brought back the best ever cold brew (Grady’s) from New York.

IMG_6058

Plus my new favorite cup, from St. Thomas!

IMG_6067

I got back to Charlottesville from New York on Sunday night so I didn’t have time for a grocery trip this week which meant I mostly ate a bunch of (tasty) nonsense.  Like cafeteria food that I carted home.  Chicken tenders + fries + seaweed salad.

IMG_6048

A Beyond Burger with hot sauce and tomatoes.

IMG-20190815-WA0000

And Wegman’s hot bar.  I pretty much got every chicken and vegetable option from the “Asian” section.

IMG_6080

One night my cousin threw a dinner party and cooked an honest-to-god, grown up meal – eggplant parmesan and garlic bread (plus a fancy cheese plate and homemade chocolate chip cookies).

IMG-20190814-WA0007

And Thursday I finally made it to free pretzel night at Hardywood because my work hosted an after-hours journal club there.

IMG-20190815-WA0003

Good Birthday And Goodbye

by

Goodbye – I am going to be signing off of the blog for a bit, until mid-August.  We are going to be doing a lot of traveling with questionable internet service – our motel to New York to St. Thomas to New York then back to Charlottesville – and I don’t want to deal with my camera.  I will be sure to include any and all ice cream consumption on Instagram.

Good birthday – I turned 34 this week!  The unstoppable passage of time was celebrated with fantastic cocktails and sushi at Ten with my cousin and her fiance and even better tapas and margaritas at Little Star on a date with the husband.  Also my brother-in-law was in town this weekend and we had a great time showing him around.

Random highlights from the week…

IMG_6036

IMG_6010

Not a lot of “food food” to share this week because of our current living situation but I do have all sorts of:

{excitement in coffee}

A trip to Stand Up Coffee in Orange, the space is super cute and they give you a stick of peppermint gum!

IMG_5986

Chameleon Cold Brew.

IMG_6003

Getting a quad iced latte with my Starbuck’s birthday freebie is my favorite tradition.  Plus glittery nails!

IMG_20190724_064356_134

Quad iced latte from Sugar Shack.  Plus an ube doughnut.

IMG_6042

{excitement in cocktails}

A motel-made hibiscus vodka soda!

IMG_6031

Related – I found the newest hibiscus flavor of La Croix.

IMG_6016

The margarita at Little Star comes with a mezcal chaser.

IMG_20190724_184646_480

[excitement in local cuisine}

I tried a very elevated version of the Southern favorite tomato sandwich, Quality Pie‘s heirloom tomatoes and remoulade on sourdough.  Amazing!

IMG_20190726_194507_372

Also the chef brought us out some blistered tomatoes with sea salt that basically took our breath away.

Life Updates, Part Deux

by

I briefly shared some of our personal life excitement a few months ago but I am definitely overdue for an update!  FYI:

{1} Adam is only a fellow for another 9 days and then he’s going to be an attending in New York. (Woo-hoo!)

{2} We move out of Charlottesville to the city next Thursday.

{3} Adam has a tiny window of break-time between his two jobs and we’re taking a quick vacation back home to St. Thomas!

{4} I’m actually not moving to New York… for the moment anyway.  The time frame is still unclear but I’m staying in Charlottesville for a bit before I join the husband, my current job was just too good to walk away from yet!

{5} Our apartment lease was short and I am off of work today because we’re moving into a motel for the next week and a half.

Phew!  You guys are all caught up now!

This past weekend Adam had his last weekend coverage call in Culpeper.  I went with him for support/to hang out in the hotel and watch cable tv.  We ate take-out and snacks, so I have a few exciting snacks to share…

Coffee!

IMG_5912

Mocha on mocha.

IMG_5926

Raven’s Nest is our favorite coffee in the state of Virginia.

IMG_5965

This watermelon rose kombucha was a total winner.

IMG_5957

Exciting yogurt flavors.

IMG_5959

IMG_5982

Snacks on snacks.

IMG_5947

Local bbq – smoked chicken and hush puppies, cole slaw, and fried okra.

IMG_5933

National Ice Cream day was Sunday.

IMG_5973

Cake from the Salvadorian bakery.

IMG_5941

Rompope (aka eggnog!) popsicle.

IMG_5977

Vanilla Beans And David Bowie

by

Fun things from this week –

Double vanilla bean coffee.  I added ground vanilla to the coffee grounds and the final cup.  Plus sweetened condensed milk!

IMG_5851

IMG_5841

A tiny ice cream scoop.  Bluegrass Creamery does a “two bite” cup, which I think is the best idea ever and wish all eateries would offer.  Plus it came with a free topping!  This was cookie conundrum topped with chocolate chip cookie.

IMG_5893

Chicken nachos.  Black bean chips with cheese, shredded chicken, heirloom tomato, fresh corn, and homemade guacamole.

IMG_5886

Labyrinth on the big screen.  Yes, the Labyrinth.  Our local theater is showing old movies for $5 a ticket this summer.  It was great!  And I had the very best movie snacks.  A chocolate covered marshmallow from Kilwins + these new baby gummy bears from Trader Joes.

IMG_5904

IMG_5864

Goses.  Passion fruit and sour tropic fruit.

IMG_5876

Tacos.  Three cheese (Oaxacan cheese, manchego cheese, and queso fresco, with refried black beans, sliced avocado, roasted corn pico, and pickled watermelon) and fish (blackened tilapia, red cabbage slaw, red onion, avoverde, cilantro, and lime)  from Brazos.

IMG_5860

Convenience Foods And Cocktails

by

It was not a super exciting weekend for me – Adam was out of town and I worked on Sunday.  I spent my single day off on errands and chores around the house.  On the meal front I was all about snacks, convenience foods, and cocktails.

Highlights…

Iced coffee with vanilla bean powder.

IMG_5783

Perfect Bar comes in cookie dough flavor!! <– I’m not sure if this flavor is very old or very new but oddly I cannot find a single mention of it on their site or the internet in general

IMG_5827

Polar unicorn kisses seltzer.  I am obsessed with these fantasy-themed mini cans.

IMG_5792

Am I determined to try every existing variety of pimento cheese before I leave the South?  Yes.  Northerners, take note – this variety from Trader Joe’s is not very good; pimento dip should not be homogeneous but should have individual shreds of cheese.

IMG_5761

On the other hand, these (vegan!) mini marshmallows are vanilla-y perfection.

IMG_5801

Still in love with these chicken and waffle chips.

IMG_5820

Spicy ramen + agua fresca cerveza.

IMG_5804

A not very good frozen meal + a quite good rum and coke (with Vitae golden rum and tons of fresh lime).

IMG_5831

Local Love

by

Highlights from this week – my in-laws are in town and we had fun showing them Charlottseville one last time // we had some great dinners out, including a new spot that’s a new favorite // Wissotzky Tea Company – an international, family-owned tea company based in Israel with offices in London and the United States – sent me some of their inventive flavors to try…

Coffee for the week: Trader Joe’s espresso blend with sweetened condensed milk.

IMG_5722

Tea samples; their four newest, spiciest flavors: Ginger and Turmeric Spiced Chai, Pumpkin Spiced Chai, Salted Caramel Chai, Spiced Nana Mint Chai.  I cold-brewed my cups per the company’s instructions – a ratio of 4 cups cold water to 5 tea bags, covered in the fridge for 15-36 hours.

IMG_5634

Salted Caramel Chai with a splash half and half (added post picture).

IMG_5680

Spiced Nana Mint Chai with sugar and fresh lime.  <– fair warning, this flavor was too peppery for Adam’s tastes

IMG_5688

Tropical flavors from the Mexican ice cream place down the street: passionfruit, guava, and mamey!

IMG_5728

Plus I picked up these super interesting gummy candies.  They have milk in them and the texture is extra soft and very unique.

IMG_5736

Roasted green beans and TJ’s turkey corn dogs.  Apparently I love corn dogs, I couldn’t stop raving about how tasty these were!

IMG_5701

Sheet pan hash: potatoes, onion, bell pepper, shredded brussel sprouts, and maple chicken breakfast sausage.

IMG_5737

Smoked Kitchen and Tap: a bbq spot we love in Crozet.  I had smoked turkey, cole slaw, and creamed corn with smoked jalopeno.

IMG_20190710_181609_315

The Local: an amazing spot in Bellmont.  I had the best, most Southern plate – buttermilk-brined fried chicken with pimento cheese mac and cheese, collard greens, and house made hot sauce and a buttermilk-chive drizzle.

IMG_20190711_185757_337

Modern Nosh: a newish, super cute deli (which means I finally have a deli in Charlottesville!).

IMG_5754

I had a half turkey reuben and soup with the best matzoh ball of my life.

IMG_5752

Plus we split latkes that were wonderfully full of garlic.  Yum!

IMG_5747